Thankful Thursday

Two weekends ago, we went to a wedding out in San Ramon. It was perfect weather, good food, catching up with Nolan's UCSF classmates from all over the country, and the site was gorgeous. I just found this picture and thought I'd post it - no reason really.

My excitement for the week was taking Milo to the vet. He's been getting treated for fleas and worms (gross!), and had his last appt on Wednesday. Conveniently, he decided to let us know he had a bladder problem again on Monday, by peeing on everything and hiding in the bathtub (and eventually peeing in there too and ruining his hiding place). Nolan took this picture to document the angry Milo face.

So I took him in for his checkup, and turned it into an exam of his issues too. He ended up staying the night for testing and monitoring, and got lots of food and meds. I called today to check on him and make sure they got their sample so I could pick him up after work, and the receptionist said, "Oh, Milo's fine. He's resting easy now. He ate a little bit, and was trying to lick himself, so we have him in a cone and stuff. He's pretty groggy and sensitive but seems to be doing okay. The doctor said he will probably be able to go home around 3 if he is able to walk..." At this point I'm freaking out like, what have they done to my cat, what are they talking about?!...and then I think of something. "Hang on a sec...can we, uhh...are we talking about the same pet here? Milo - the little white cat?". There's a pause, and then the receptionist says, "OH. So sorry, we have 2 Milos here right now. Yeah, yours is fine. He's been eating all day and he's ready to go home whenever." Eating nonstop? That sounds more like the Milo I know. So now he's home, on meds for a week, and on a prescription diet for awhile to clear up his issues. But! He's happy, mostly healthy, and flea and worm-free. Win.


This week I hosted our first bible study at my house, and was making treats when I got a little hasty (it was almost bedtime and I was still cooking!), and dumped chocolate chips all over the oven and through the burner holes. Oops. However, I learned that perhaps all those games we played as kids maybe do have real-life applications. Here you can see my Operation skillz coming in handy as I retrieve chips with wooden "tweezers" through the burning hot pipes. Oh yeah.

For date night this week, we decided to splurge a little and go for our favourite high-calorie food (ok, ONE of them): Indian. We tried a new place in Sunnyvale and it was awful. Hah. We normally pick such winners, but this one had legitimately gross food. Besides the saag paneer, which was actually really delicious.

This is Nolan giving a surreptitious thumbs-down to the cheesy tikka masala. Seriously: it tasted like it had velveeta in it. Disgusting. Also: they had mango "froyo" as part of the buffet...and it was literally the same stuff as the mango lassi I had, except frozen. Why would you pay for a drink when you could just melt unlimited dessert into your cup for free? That was our first and last visit there. Back to Peacock's amazing buffet for us.

After dinner, we went to Chuck's donuts, and let me just say: I haven't had a donut in like...so many years. I don't even know. But this place is open 24/7, and ALWAYS has people in it. We figured this would be a night of first and last visits to places. Chucks was one. Great donuts, but seriously: I felt like I was eating America. So bad for you.



So with all that...what am I thankful for? A lot, obviously. I have a pretty amazing life, and a pretty incredible husband to share it with. We're super blessed.

1. I'm thankful for Nolan! He's such an amazing partner and friend. I can't get enough time with him, no matter how much I see him! And he puts up with my bad moods and bad habits with love and grace. What more could you ask for, eh?

2. I'm thankful for my bible study. It's great to have a group of such solid girls to meet with each week and learn with together.

3. I'm thankful for Milo's health! You never really realize how dear those little creatures are to you until they're threatened somehow. On that note, if he disappears this Christmas again, I'll kill him.

4. I'm thankful for the future - there are so many exciting things in our near future, and I already can't wait! Who knows what our life will be like in less than 2 short years! It's so great to have fun things to look forward to. Now if I can just remember to live in the present ;)

5. I'm thankful for my car. Sounds like a stupid thing, but I took it in for an oil change and 5,000 service check, and was reminded of how great it is to have a perfectly functioning (and so cute!) vehicle that I can trust. I remember not having that, and it was nerve-wracking and stressful! I love getting into each morning and knowing what to expect. It's like my little pre- and post-work retreat.

What are you thankful for?

Sunday Funday

I thought since it's been just about a month since my last post, it's time for me to get back to posting. I needed a little hiatus from just about everything, so I included the blog in that. A lot of fun stuff has happened in the last month, including of course our tropical vacation (woohoo!), working, weddings, more working, and a ton of planning for the next few weeks and months. We're getting into the Fall swing of things, which means small groups are starting back up, holidays and parties need to be planned, fun outings with friends, and we're seriously planning our next vacation (or trying...). With all that, we need a break every once in awhile. And I know, I'm busy every evening because I make it so...but it's still nice to have some alone time or spouse time to relax. Yesterday after church I met up with ylehsa, who happened to be in town for a few hours. We grabbed lunch, caught up, watched tv shows on Hulu...you know. Then after she left, Nolan woke up from his nap (he's working nights right now), and we got to cuddle and catch up, eat dinner, and we even had the time to drive to our favourite froyo spot in Palo Alto and walk and eat delicious treats before he had to go back to work. Those are the times I most cherish. After that I had the rest of the night to myself, so I did a little workout and just relaxed before an early bedtime. I'd call that a Sunday Funday. My brother and sister-in-law have a Sunday Funday each week as a tradition, and I thought I'd rip it off for my own uses, even if that just means doing whatever I want for a day!

Since I recently rediscovered our vitamix-style blender, I've been getting more into good smoothie and shake recipes, and have been excited that I can really easily make a delicious smoothie into a protein-packed snack (tasty AND functional!). My new favourite breakfast and nod to fall is the pumpkin spice protein shake, to which I add oats to give me my morning grains that I need. Today for my snack, I brought a spinach berry smoothie, so I get my veggies, protein (greek yogurt in there), and tasty fruits...all with no sugar or fat added! Lesson learned over the weekend: actually measure the spinach. I didn't do this, and just threw in handfuls of it. After choking down what was basically a shredded salad, I realized that I probably added twice as much spinach as was called for. Blech. Green smoothies CAN be tasty...if you do them right. Tomorrow: carrot or beet, depending on my mood!

Next on my list of purchases: a good mountain bike. I am a big fan after going a few times (see pic below at Black Mountain), and really need a bike so I don't have to keep renting! We'll see if I can find what I'm looking for so that Nolan and I can start going on days off together.

Tonight after work and my hike with a friend, I'm setting out the fall decorations. I might even make a batch of pumpkin gnocchi to freeze (Nolan's favourite!), and I'm definitely making a chocolate chip pumpkin pizookie (don't worry, it's healthy...other than the chocolate chips in it) for bible study tomorrow night. That link is from one of my favourite dessert blogs. Check it out!

Thankful Thursday

Mmm. It's almost the weekend, and that means more time for cooking. Last weekend we experimented with paleo french toast. No, I'm not strictly paleo. But a lot of the recipes line up with the clean eating we try to maintain, so there you go.

We'd been jonesing for french toast, so I found this recipe to make the "bread", which was spongy and delicious, and the absolute perfect texture when browned in the pan with coconut oil for a few minutes. This is a picture right after it came out of the oven:

And this is after browning slightly, covering in homemade spiced strawberry sauce, and coconut milk. Yum!

The next morning I made healthy, fresh granola sans the oils and sugars, and it was so delicious! I just finished off eating the batch this morning with some soymilk at work, and it was oh so good. So needless to say, I'm excited about the weekend. Plus I have fun things to look forward to: a double date, mountain biking, lunch with a girlfriend...getting ready for our trip next Friday (EEEEEE!!!).

This week we went to our scuba class on Tuesday night after work. Nolan picked me up, we googled some random Chinese restaurant, which turned out to be fantastic, and then we stopped at 7-11 for ice cream bars. Oops. At least we burned off all those calories in the pool for 5+ hours, right?

Scuba was...awesome. It came so naturally, and we found that we were finished with each skill before everyone else in the class, so that bodes well. Being "weightless" and able to breathe normally underwater and play around without surfacing was so fun! Nolan and I were playing catch with a bowling ball for awhile on the bottom, and throwing it as hard as we could at each other. Probably the only circumstance in which we could do that. What I'm not sure about is the ear-clearing thing. I had ear-issues as a little kid, and have never been able to go beyond 7 feet even in a pool without a lot of pain. So I was nervous. With some help from our instructor, I was able to SLOWLY get down to 12 feet (how deep the pool was) and be totally comfortable. But it did take a few minutes, and Nolan was so patient as I waited for the air spaces to slowly equalize. I'm hoping if I just take it slow when we go deeper (60 feet, yikes!), it won't be a problem. But I'm still nervous about it. And so excited. Keep your fingers crossed.

With that:

1. I'm thankful for vacation coming up soon! We're already planning to rent a scooter, snorkel, scuba dive, explore ruins, hike through the jungle, and enjoy the Caribbean for 10 days. w00t.
2. I'm thankful for exciting things happening with people I love. Whether it's having babies, or getting married, or new job opportunities, I love when good things happen to good people. And I'm thankful to have so many of those in my life.
3. I'm thankful for grace. I know I'm a total doof and don't deserve anything from God, or even from those I love...but somehow I receive it anyway. Amazing.
4. I'm thankful for alone time. I'm totally a people-person, but you know sometimes it's nice just to have some time without a schedule or company to just...sit. Last weekend I had to spend a few hours working, but other than that I did things like...take a nap. And do an hour-long stretching "workout" with a cup of tea. It was glorious.
5. I'm thankful for you, who care enough to keep up with this piddly piece of my life. You each mean a lot to me!


What are you thankful for?

Thankful Thursday

I can't even believe that August is halfway over. I waited months and months to wear shorts and flip-flops and now I'm looking forward to pulling out my pumpkin recipes and chili and soups. The year is slipping by quickly, and I've already begun thinking of christmas! So many things to look forward to. This week, I'll try to focus on the present a bit:

1. I'm thankful for our upcoming vacation! Just two weeks from now, we'll be almost to Roatan, and ready to go deep under the sea! I'm excited...and a little bit nervous. But I'm so thankful we have time together to do fun things like this!
2. I'm thankful for good work at my job. I like having challenging tasks to keep my mind engaged.
3. I'm thankful for great weather! It's been really warm, but not unbearably hot. In fact, tonight I don't even have the A/C on (woohoo!), but I'm comfy enough to sit here with wet hair and not get a chill.
4. I'm thankful for Nolan. He's just my favourite person and I have so much fun with him. I can't even say how lucky I am.
5. I'm thankful for friends that keep me challenged. Whether it's working out together or just talking and encouraging each other, they're really special.

What are you thankful for?

comings and goings

Recently, we decided it was time to up our coffee game. We normally love our brewed coffee, and we'll sometimes make a poor man's latte (extra-strong coffee with hand-beaten hot milk). So I finally ordered us a real setup. We picked up the Italian espresso maker (for the stovetop!), and a milk frother to get our milk nice and foamy:

As you can see, the frother definitely works. I like my nice, thick layer of foam!

This weekend was pretty exciting. Birthday party on Friday night, then while Nolan slept off his nightshift, I got up and went mountain biking with my friend Erin at Arastradero Preserve, and it was amazing! I'm definitely in the market for my own mountain bike now.

After that, Nolan and I went to our favourite Indian buffet in Sunnyvale, and tried out geocaching for the first time! We found two geocaches, but are definitely going to try some trickier ones next time. We felt a little bit like James Bond or something, pulling out hidden cylinders in bricks and finding hidden messages. Fun!

What the app looks like while using it. The blue dot is us, the green is the geocache.

Our first geocache! It was literally a cylinder hidden in a brick that we had to find.



Our second find - it was tiny! Hidden stuck under a bench.

  

On Sunday, we randomly drove up to the ranch to visit with my parents and get in some whitewater rafting, tasty food, fun, roasting marshmallows over the new firepit and stargazing during the last bit of the meteor shower. The super-relaxing night was somewhat broken up by the boys trying to figure out a complicated math problem. It started with my dad asking Nolan random questions and ended with a question that stumped them both - something about what latitude you'd have to fly at while going 500mph to keep the sunset on your horizon. I don't know. The stargazing immediately ended and they both rushed inside to scribble formulas on paper and finally deciding to just drape a piece of yarn over a globe and find their answer. That was my cue for bedtime.

Last week I found a delicious recipe and had to share the pictures because it was that good! I'd been craving my mom's tomato tart, but didn't have the recipe and wanted to make a clean-eating version (more or less). So I started with a delicious almond meal crust, using sea salt, coconut oil, italian herbs, etc.

Before baking the crust.

Then I added a super thin layer of plain, nonfat greek yogurt. I covered it with fresh minced garlic, and sprinkled mozzarella cheese over that. Then I put freshly-sliced tomatoes on top of that, covered with fresh basil leaves (yum!), and another sprinkle of sea salt.

  

It was so delicious! I'm totally making it again this week.

 We tested out our snorkels when we were up there in the pool, and practiced using our masks and equalizing our ears, etc. Our scuba class is next week, and I'm already feeling nervous! So much to remember! So little time to do my coursework! But it will be so worth it - our vacation is just a week and a half later! EEE!!!

Thankful Thursday

Last weekend I went up to my parents' home to visit with them and my brother, and to meet my bro's girlfriend, Rachael. We went berry-picking, we went kayaking at Stumpy Meadows, had a fun BBQ with friends, and packed the weekend full of activities! Here's a pic I took of them when we went down to Coloma by the river.

Nate and Rachael

I've been a little absent from the blog world lately, as I've been keeping busy, and it's been great. I have a lot to be thankful for:

1. I'm thankful for productivity at work. I love being busy, and it was slow there for awhile. It feels good to be stressed out again, hah!

2. I'm thankful for our fun vacation coming up in less than a month! We're headed to Roatan, Honduras, and Guatemala for scuba diving, exploring, and relaxing! EEEEEEEEE

3. I'm thankful for a loving family, and how open and honest we can be with each other. So few relationships in this world can match that of family.

4. I'm thankful for relaxing times this week. It's been nice to get stuff done for vacation, around the house, and seeing friends and being able to decompress. I'm still lacking in sleep, but that's my own fault for exercising so early in the mornings. 

5. I'm thankful for Nolan's schedule right now, even though he gets home at my bedtime. It means he gets up when I'm done with my workout, and we have a bit of morning together before we have to leave for work. It's been nice.

What are you thankful for?

odds and ends

Before we left for Oregon, I happened to burn myself on the oven while taking a zucchini lasagna (yum!) out, and since it was pretty bad, Nolan whipped out his fancy numbing lotion and clear sealing bandage and fixed me up. After 10 minutes it felt much better, and when I woke up I couldn't feel it at all! There are perks to having a doctor in the house :) 

Okay, and now for a few pictures from Oregon, though I'm really only posting a couple because they're all on facebook and there are just too many. This one is one of my favourites...cuddling with my nephew. He's so sweet and smells delicious and soft. I just want to pinch his little cheeks! Maybe I will...when he's older.

We also went for a walk through Stout Grove with Nolan's parents, who got married there! It's such a beautiful place, with the ancient redwoods towering over you what feels like miles in the sky. Gorgeous.

This Saturday was our 5th wedding anniversary, and we had kind of an adventurous day. We woke up and ate a tasty breakfast and had lattes together, then decided we'd go to Great America since we didn't have tickets to Les Miserables like we'd been hoping. So we printed the tickets and parking pass, drove down there, and sat in the parking lot outside the gates, because Nolan wanted to make sure some guy he'd contacted about Les Mis tickets had a chance to call him back. Sure enough, the phone rings, he says the 8pm tickets are ours to pick up at 1:30 (it was 11am at the time), and to meet him at the theaters. So we killed some time by eating lunch at a MiniGolf place and playing arcade games.

 

After arcade games, we picked up the tickets (Hallelujah!), went home and changed, and headed up to SF to visit our old neighbourhood, meet a friend at our favourite old boba place, stop for a few bits of dim sum along the way, and walk to Santung for our favourite dry-fried chicken! It was amazing. AND we found out that the dessert place next door is owned by the same owners, and actually serves everything on Santung's menu (they share a kitchen, so it's easy). So instead of waiting outside in line for an hour, we had immediate seats and were immediately served our food in the little place next door. That's a secret we're going to preserve!

After dinner (and okay, some Tuttimelon), we drove the scenic route through the park by where we got engaged, and then went downtown for Les Mis. I'm not even going to attempt to describe how incredible it was, because there are no words. If you're in the Bay Area, go see it. It was the perfect ending to a perfect day celebrating 5 amazing years of marriage with my soulmate. We've certainly learned a lot these 5 years, and I can't wait to have the rest of our lives together! Who knew it would be so easy to fall deeper and deeper in love with the same man each day after years together? Biggest surprise: I still find his messiness endearing (don't tell him, though!). I can't help feeling like God's spoiled me by giving me Nolan.

Some nights, you just have to have dessert for dinner, you know? Last night I polished off the delicious lemon coconut tart I made (thanks for another great, healthy dessert option, Anna!) and watched the Tudors as I hemmed another pair of Nolan's pants. It was the best dinner ever.

Just because this is adorable, here's a video I took of Nolan doing his special move, "The Gazelle" with our nephew. Works like a charm - we tried it on another baby a few days ago with similar results!